Amos w



A. W. SNOW.

Car Seat.

Patented June 26, 1849 AM. PHDTO-LKTHO- C0. N.V. (OSBORNE! PROCESS.)

UNITED sra'rs AMOS W. SNOW, OF NORIVICH, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO MO\VRY & HYDE.

SEAT FOR RAILROAD-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 6,552, dated June 26, 1849.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, AMos IV. Snow, of Norwich, in the county of New London and State of Connecticut, have invented a useful Improvement in Railway-Car Seats; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view. Fig. 2 is a plan. Fig. 3 is a view of the lower half of the inside legs.

The character of my invention and improvement consists in the construction of an adjustable carriage or car seat.

In many descriptions of carriages, and especially railroad cars, the seats are constructed with movable backs, so that they may be reversed, or thrown over from one side to the other, in a manner well known, and understood; but in all such arrangements, the seat remains stationary, and is a level surface (excepting inequalities of the surface of the cushions). Persons seated on such seats, and leaning back, experience discomfort arising from a tendency to slip forward and off the same, unless they brace themselves back, by putting their feet upon the foot rungs.

To obviate these defects is the object of my invention.

Bymy arrangement, the seat can be inclined in the direction of the movable back; and can be shifted and inclined to whichever side the back is directed; and when so fixed, or adjusted, can be made stationary in its position, by the most simple movement of the sitters themselves.

In Figure 1 is a perspective view of a railroad car seat having a shifting back and arms of ordinary construction; the cushion seat is removed to show the construction beneath. It will be seen that the seat rests upon X-shaped legs of cast iron, the lower half of which at (a a) is bolted to the floor; these lower legs terminate at the center in a circular plate, from which a branch or standard rises vertically and terminates in a rounded head as seen at (b) through this head three rounded holes are cut, but connected by a horizontal slit, so that a passage is made from one hole to the other. The upper half of the legs (0 0) are attached to the seat by the two ends which join together at the center and terminate in a circular plate similar to that represented at (a) and before mentioned; A pin or bolt being passed through these two circular plates, forms an axis on which the sea rests and vibrates. Near the bottom of the legs (a a) there are mortises cast, for the purpose of holding the foot rail (cl). In the opposite legs, which rest against the side of the car, these mortises are open at the top, so that the end of the rails may be dropped in, and it is there kept in place by a small stop screwed to the side of the car, over the open end of the mortise as seen in Fig. 3. This arrangement allows of replacing a good rail for a broken one, without taking down the seat, as is now necessary.

The legs shown in dotted lines which rest against the side of the car, are constructed similar to the first, except that the three holes in the upright (6) are not connected. A rod (6) is next passed through a hole in the end of the frame of the seat, and continued on, through one of the holes in the upright (b), and thence through a guide hole, pierced in a small stud (2'), placed just before the upright' (12), and moving with the frame of the seat. The rod is flattened at a place near the upright (b) in order that it can be made to pass from one hole to another, by sliding between the slots which connect these holes together. On the outside of the seat, the rod terminates in a convenient knob to take hold of and manage it by; as seen in Fig. 2. At (m) is aspring, fastened to the frame of the seat, and acting on the rod, so as to cause it to return to its position after it has been withdrawn from the holes in (b). The operation of canting the seat, it will now be seen, is effected by moving this rod (6), so that the point which enters the holes in (6) will be withdrawn and shifted to another one. The point of the rod being placed in either of the two outside holes in (b) will cant the seat one way or the other, according as the back is placed, and it is desired to have it. The center hole places the seat so that it is on a level. The persons sitting on the seat can effect these changes to suit themselves by simply reaching over the arm, and taking hold of the knob on the end of the rod, and withdrawing it, as before stated,

, from the hole in (b) and then pressing frame of the seat in combination with the their oWn Weight, so that the seat will go fixed standards (I) b) when constructed and either Way required. operating in the manner set forth herein. 10

What I claim as my invention and im- AMOS W. SNOW. 5 provement, and desire to secure by Letters Witnesses:

Patent, is I. P. PIRssoN,

The horizontal rod (6) attached to the T. G. FRENCH. 

